A Florida car saleswoman of Middle Eastern descent claims she was subjected to race-based discrimination by a coworker who allegedly told her, among other things, that she “smelled like the Middle East,” according to a federal civil rights lawsuit reviewed by The Independent.
When Chrisanna Abad, 29, reported the purported abuse to her boss, she says in her complaint that he did nothing to stop the harassment, instead instructing her to “stop b****ing, complaining, and being childish.”
Abad’s suit, filed recently in Orlando, comes amid a rash of anti-Islam sentiment by prominent GOP lawmakers, including high-profile members of Donald Trump’s presidential cabinet.
In recent weeks, Rep. Randy Fine, a Florida Republican, posted on social media that he preferred dogs to Muslims, Tennessee Republican Rep. Andy Ogles said that Muslims “don’t belong in American society,” and House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, deemed Islam a “misguided religion.” Trump himself has stirred global outrage with his own flood of Islamophobic comments over the past decade, which has reportedly led to a corresponding rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes.
Last year, Chipotle agreed to pay $20,000 to settle a religious harassment lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of a Muslim employee in Kansas whose supervisor was accused of ripping her hijab off her head. In 2024, Blackwell Security Services paid $70,000 to settle a complaint brought on behalf of a Muslim security guard in Chicago who was forced by higher-ups to shave his beard under threat of termination. In 2021, JBS Foods, the nation’s second-largest chicken, beef and pork producer, settled a suit for $5.5 million, over allegations that Muslim employees in the company’s Greeley, Colorado, meatpacking plant were prohibited from praying as required by their religion, even during scheduled breaks.
Although Abad’s filing identifies her alleged tormentor, the lone defendant named is the dealership itself, Gary Yeomans Honda of Daytona Beach, part of a well-known multi-brand network of dealerships established in 1982. Company and dealership officials, along with Gary Yeomans himself, did not respond Monday to requests for comment.
Abad began working in April 2025 as a sales consultant at Gary Yeomans Honda, her complaint says, noting that her “race and national origin are Middle Eastern and Hispanic.”
She also suffers from migraines, which “affect her major life activities, including the ability to work effectively during periods of heightened stress,” Abad’s complaint states. This, it contends, qualifies her as disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The month after Abad started, a coworker allegedly targeted her for harassment, making “multiple racist comments” toward her, according to the complaint.
In one incident, the colleague told Abad “that she ‘smelled like the Middle East,’” and threatened to beat her up, the complaint continues.
A client relations manager who saw it happen “laughed and rolled her eyes” instead of intervening, the complaint goes on. When Abad reported the episode to the dealership’s general manager, who the complaint says was also Middle Eastern, he “dismissed [her] concerns by telling her to ‘stop b****ing, complaining and being childish.’”
In June 2025, when the behavior didn’t change, Abad escalated the issue to human resources, the complaint states. An HR rep called in both Abad and the dealership’s general manager, who, according to the complaint, told Abad to “ignore the racist remarks and focus on work,” and said that if someone made anti-Middle Eastern comments, that she should simply “let it go,” the complaint alleges.
However, it maintains, nothing changed. In fact, the complaint claims, the client relations manager was by now referring to Abad as “the Arab” when the two crossed paths.
In late July 2025, was hospitalized for three days following a debilitating migraine attack the complaint says was “exacerbated by the stress caused by the discriminatory work environment.” When she was released, the dealership’s general manager fired her “for missing three days of work,” according to the complaint.
Still, the animosity lingered long after Abad was gone, the complaint alleges.
“In or around October 2025, [Abad] was informed by a former co-worker that during a meeting, [the former client relations manager at Gary Yeomans Honda] stated that if [Abad] were ever hired at another Honda dealership, she would ensure [she] was fired,” it states.
Losing her job has caused Abad mental anguish, distress, humiliation and loss of enjoyment of life, the complaint claims.
She is suing for race-based discrimination, national origin-based discrimination, violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, for failing to accommodate her disability, that is, the migraines.
Abad is now seeking front and back pay with interest, along with compensatory and punitive damages to be determined by a jury, as well as court costs and attorneys’ fees.
